IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jopoec/v36y2023i1d10.1007_s00148-021-00829-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Birth outcomes in hard times among minority ethnic groups

Author

Listed:
  • Paola Bertoli

    (University of Verona
    Charles University in Prague)

  • Veronica Grembi

    (University of Milan)

  • The Linh Bao Nguyen

    (University of Maryland)

Abstract

Combining a unique dataset of birth records with municipal-level real estate information, we assess the impact of the 2008 recession on the health of immigrants’ newborns in Italy. Health at birth (e.g., low birth weight) of children born to immigrants deteriorated more than health at birth of children born to Italian natives. The negative effects on immigrants are not equally distributed across ethnicities, but rather are driven by the main economic activity of the ethnic group and its related network at the municipal level. Immigrants whose ethnic group is mainly employed in the sectors most affected during the recession suffered the most. Living in a municipality where their ethnic network is organized through more registered immigrant associations mitigates the recession hardship for immigrants. The characteristics of ethnic groups and their organization at the municipal level do not explain the heterogeneous effects on Italian newborns, which confirms the presence of network effects rather than neighborhood effects

Suggested Citation

  • Paola Bertoli & Veronica Grembi & The Linh Bao Nguyen, 2023. "Birth outcomes in hard times among minority ethnic groups," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(1), pages 263-294, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jopoec:v:36:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s00148-021-00829-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s00148-021-00829-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00148-021-00829-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s00148-021-00829-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Melitz, Jacques & Toubal, Farid, 2014. "Native language, spoken language, translation and trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(2), pages 351-363.
    2. Heather Royer, 2009. "Separated at Girth: US Twin Estimates of the Effects of Birth Weight," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 49-85, January.
    3. Gerard J. van den Berg & Pia R. Pinger & Johannes Schoch, 2016. "Instrumental Variable Estimation of the Causal Effect of Hunger Early in Life on Health Later in Life," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 126(591), pages 465-506, March.
    4. Paul W. Miller & Barry R. Chiswick, 2002. "Immigrant earnings: Language skills, linguistic concentrations and the business cycle," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 15(1), pages 31-57.
    5. Dettling, Lisa J. & Kearney, Melissa S., 2014. "House prices and birth rates: The impact of the real estate market on the decision to have a baby," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 82-100.
    6. Di Pietro, Giorgio, 2018. "Revisiting the impact of macroeconomic conditions on health behaviours," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 173-181.
    7. Anna Piil Damm, 2009. "Ethnic Enclaves and Immigrant Labor Market Outcomes: Quasi-Experimental Evidence," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 27(2), pages 281-314, April.
    8. Carlos Bozzoli & Climent Quintana-Domeque, 2014. "The Weight of the Crisis: Evidence From Newborns in Argentina," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 96(3), pages 550-562, July.
    9. Van den Berg, Gerard & Modin, Bitte, 2013. "Economic Conditions at Birth, Birth Weight, Ability, and the Causal Path to Cardiovascular Mortality," CEPR Discussion Papers 9650, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Will Somerville & Sara Wallace Goodman, 2010. "The Role of Networks in the Development of UK Migration Policy," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 58, pages 951-970, December.
    11. Moscone, F. & Tosetti, E. & Vittadini, G., 2016. "The impact of precarious employment on mental health: The case of Italy," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 86-95.
    12. Marcantonio Caltabiano & Chiara Ludovica Comolli & Alessandro Rosina, 2017. "The effect of the Great Recession on permanent childlessness in Italy," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 37(20), pages 635-668.
    13. Per-Anders Edin & Peter Fredriksson & Olof Åslund, 2003. "Ethnic Enclaves and the Economic Success of Immigrants—Evidence from a Natural Experiment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(1), pages 329-357.
    14. Patacchini, Eleonora & Zenou, Yves, 2012. "Ethnic networks and employment outcomes," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(6), pages 938-949.
    15. Aparicio, Ainoa & González, Libertad & Vall Castelló, Judit, 2020. "Newborn health and the business cycle: The role of birth order," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    16. Anne Ardila Brenøe & Ramona Molitor, 2018. "Birth order and health of newborns," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(2), pages 363-395, April.
    17. Bhalotra, Sonia, 2010. "Fatal fluctuations? Cyclicality in infant mortality in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 7-19, September.
    18. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "How Much Should We Trust Differences-In-Differences Estimates?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(1), pages 249-275.
    19. Lindo, Jason M., 2015. "Aggregation and the estimated effects of economic conditions on health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 83-96.
    20. Barry Chiswick, 1999. "Are Immigrants Favorably Self-Selected?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 181-185, May.
    21. Carol Yeh-Yun Lin & Leif Edvinsson & Jeffrey Chen & Tord Beding, 2013. "National Intellectual Capital and the Financial Crisis in Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain," SpringerBriefs in Economics, Springer, edition 127, number 978-1-4614-5990-3, April.
    22. Will Somerville & Sara Wallace Goodman, 2010. "The Role of Networks in the Development of UK Migration Policy," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 58(5), pages 951-970, December.
    23. Cavalieri, Marina & Ferrante, Livio, 2016. "Does fiscal decentralization improve health outcomes? Evidence from infant mortality in Italy," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 74-88.
    24. Jessamyn Schaller, 2016. "Booms, Busts, and Fertility: Testing the Becker Model Using Gender-Specific Labor Demand," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 51(1), pages 1-29.
    25. Hilary Hoynes & Douglas L. Miller & Jessamyn Schaller, 2012. "Who Suffers during Recessions?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 26(3), pages 27-48, Summer.
    26. Carol Yeh-Yun Lin & Leif Edvinsson, 2013. "National intellectual capital in Israel and financial crisis impact," International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 4(3), pages 245-273.
    27. Carol Yeh-Yun Lin & Leif Edvinsson & Jeffrey Chen & Tord Beding, 2013. "National Intellectual Capital and the Financial Crisis in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan," SpringerBriefs in Economics, Springer, edition 127, number 978-1-4614-5984-2, April.
    28. Angelini, Viola & Mierau, Jochen O., 2014. "Born at the right time? Childhood health and the business cycle," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 35-43.
    29. Yu Xie & Margaret Gough, 2011. "Ethnic Enclaves and the Earnings of Immigrants," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 48(4), pages 1293-1315, November.
    30. Jonas Helgertz & Anton Nilsson, 2019. "The effect of birth weight on hospitalizations and sickness absences: a longitudinal study of Swedish siblings," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(1), pages 153-178, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bertoli, Paola & Grembi, Veronica & Nguyen, The Linh Bao, 2020. "Birth in Hard Times When You Belong To Minorities," GLO Discussion Paper Series 729, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    2. Cristina Bellés‐Obrero & Sergi Jiménez‐Martín & Judit Vall‐Castello, 2016. "Bad Times, Slimmer Children?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(S2), pages 93-112, November.
    3. De Cao, Elisabetta & McCormick, Barry & Nicodemo, Catia, 2022. "Does unemployment worsen babies’ health? A tale of siblings, maternal behaviour, and selection," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    4. van den Berg, Gerard J. & Paul, Alexander & Reinhold, Steffen, 2020. "Economic conditions and the health of newborns: Evidence from comprehensive register data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    5. Zhiling Wang & Thomas de Graaff & Peter Nijkamp, 2018. "Barriers of Culture, Networks, and Language in International Migration: A Review," REGION, European Regional Science Association, vol. 5, pages 73-89.
    6. Michele Battisti & Giovanni Peri & Agnese Romiti, 2022. "Dynamic Effects of Co-Ethnic Networks on Immigrants’ Economic Success," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(641), pages 58-88.
    7. Lorraine Wong, 2023. "The effect of linguistic proximity on the labour market outcomes of the asylum population," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(2), pages 609-652, April.
    8. Monteiro, Stein, 2021. "Cultural Assimilation: Learning and Sorting," MPRA Paper 110997, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Tao Song & Huanan Xu, 2020. "Anywhere they go, we go: Immigration inflow's impact on co‐ethnic natives in the U.S," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 87(1), pages 191-215, July.
    10. Alessie, Rob & Angelini, Viola & Mierau, Jochen O. & Viluma, Laura, 2018. "Economic downturns and infant health," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 162-171.
    11. Xu, Dafeng, 2019. "Surname-based ethnicity and ethnic segregation in the early twentieth century U.S," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 1-19.
    12. Seiz, Marta & Salazar, Leire & Eremenko, Tatiana, 2024. "Perinatal health in Spain during and after the Great Recession: Educational selection into fertility as a protective factor in high unemployment contexts," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 340(C).
    13. Aksoy, Cevat Giray & Poutvaara, Panu & Schikora, Felicitas, 2023. "First time around: Local conditions and multi-dimensional integration of refugees," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    14. Alexander M. Danzer & Carsten Feuerbaum & Marc Piopiunik & Ludger Woessmann, 2022. "Growing up in ethnic enclaves: language proficiency and educational attainment of immigrant children," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(3), pages 1297-1344, July.
    15. Öner, Özge & Klaesson, Johan, 2018. "Getting the First Job – Size and Quality of Ethnic Enclaves for Refugee Labor Market Entry," Working Paper Series 1256, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    16. Stefan Jestl & Michael Landesmann & Sebastian Leitner & Sandra M. Leitner & Isilda Mara & Maryna Tverdostup, 2023. "wiiw Studies on the Integration of Middle Eastern Refugees in Austria, Based on FIMAS Surveys and Register-based Labour Market Career Data," wiiw Policy Notes 74, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    17. LUPPI, FRANCESCA & Rosina, Alessandro & Sironi, Emiliano, 2020. "On the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the intention to leave the parental home," SocArXiv 9y6s5, Center for Open Science.
    18. Elizabeth Ananat & Shihe Fu & Stephen L. Ross, 2013. "Race-Specific Agglomeration Economies: Social Distance and the Black-White Wage Gap," Working papers 2013-08, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
    19. Dustmann, Christian & Glitz, Albrecht, 2011. "Migration and Education," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 327-439, Elsevier.
    20. Jason M. Lindo & Krishna Regmi & Isaac Swensen, 2020. "Stable Income, Stable Family," NBER Working Papers 27753, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Recessions; Immigrants; Low birth weight; Premature babies; Networks;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J60 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jopoec:v:36:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s00148-021-00829-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.